Door-opening mechanism



March 22, 2

1,622,088 c. J. CARLISLE 1300a OPENING MEQHANI$M Filed Aug. 5. 1926 2 Sheets-$heet 1 I fitter/na March 22 7- I c. J. CARLISLE 000R OPENING MECHANISM 5. 1926 2 Sheets-Sheet 2 awumatoz Patented Mar. 22, 1927.

UNITED STATES CHARLES J'. CARLISLE, 0F COLDWATER, MICHIGAN.

DOOR-OPENING MECHANISM.

Application filed. August 5, 1926. Serial No. 127,379.

This invention relates to mechanism for opening doors and it is designed primarily for use in connection with garage doors, and similar doors of other enclosures.

It is an object of the invention to provide a yieldingly supported runway which, when depressed by the weight of a vehicle or other structure of the proper weight, will cause the door or doors to shift to open position and to remain open as long as the operating structure is traveling through the door opening. Thereafter the mechanism will act to automatically close the door.

A further object is to provide mechanism of this character which is simple and compact in construction and can be used in con nection with either single or double doors or with doors movable along straight or curved lines.

A further object is to provide door operating mechanism which can be adjusted readily and which is easily accessible for the purpose of oiling or repairing the parts.

lVith the foregoing and other objects in view which will appear as the descrip tion proceeds, the invention resides in the combination and arrangement of parts and in the details of construction hereinafter described and claimed, it being understood that changes in the precise embodiment of the invention herein disclosed may be made within the scope of what is claimed without departing from the spirit of the invention.

In the accompanying drawings the preferred form of the invention has been shown.

In said drawings,

Figure 1 is an inside elevation of the door of an enclosure to which the present operating mechanism is applied, the runway being shown in section and the door being closed.

Figure 2 is an elevation showing the outer side of the closed door and runway.

Figure 3 is a section on line 33, Figure 1.

Figure 4 is a section on line 4-4, Figure 1.

Referring to the figures by characters of reference 1 designates the wall of an enclosure which can be a garage, a'fence or the like and this wall has a door opening 2 normally closed by a door 3. The door is slidably mounted on a supporting rail 4 or can be movably supported in any other manner desired, whereby when the door is thrust to one side, it will uncover the door Arranged within the lower portion of the door opening 2 is a runway formed of downwardly diverging sections 5yieldingly supported at their upper ends by springs 6. These springs are of sufficient strength to support the weight of the runway and can be adapted to yield when any additional weight is applied to the runway or when any weight over and above a predetermined amount is applied to the runway. In other words the springs could be of sufficient strength to prevent actuation or depression of the runway under the weight of a person but would yield to permit depression of the runway should a vehicle be moved onto the runway. It is to be understood that the runway can be of any suitable material, either wood, metal or slabs of concrete suitably reinforced. i

Journaled within the enclosure at a point above one side portion of the door opening 2 is an elongated lever 7 the upper end of which is offset as at 8 and pivotally connected to the enclosure as shown at 9. That portion of the lever adjacent the offset is provided with a notch 10 in which is seated the upper end of a connecting rod 11. This rod has its lower end attached to the runway 5 close to the uppermost portion thereof and if desired the connecting rod can be made up of two screw threaded sections connected by a turn buckle 12.

The lower end of the lever 7 which is normally supported laterally beyond the door opening 2 is formed with a longitudinal slot 13 and working in this slot is a stud 14% extending laterally from one of the end arms 15 of a lazy tongs 16. The other end arm 17 of the lazy tongs is connected to the arm 15 and to the enclosure 1 by means of a pivot bolt 18 or the like. That end of the lazy tongs 16 remote from the arms 15 and 17 is pivotally connected at 19 to the door 3.

The free end portions of the arms 15 and 17 are connected by a coiled spring 20, this spring serving to facilitate the elongation of the lazy tongs'during theclosing of the door position and the parts will be reset.

3 as. hereinafter explained.

Under normal conditions the door is closed as shown in Figures 1 and 2. When a vehicle moves onto the runway 5 while approaching the opening 2, said runway is depressed against the action of the springs 6 and pulls through the rod 11 upon the upper end portion of the lever 7. Thus the lever -.will be swung-toward the door-opening 2- and willthrust through stud 14. upon the lower arm lo-of the lazy tongs. This will result in elongation of spring- 20 and contraction of the lazy tongs with the result that the door 8 will be pulled to an open :position and be held open as long as the runway 5 supports the operating load. As soon as the load of the vehicle leaves the runway after passing through the opening 2, the springs 6 will be relieved of :their compression and return the, runway to its normal position. Thus rod 11 will tend vto thrust upwardly upon lever 7 and at the some time spring 20 tends to restore the lazy tongs vto :its normal position. Consequently the door 3 will be thrust to closed providing the spring supports for the run- :way 5 it is possible for a person to stand .onthe runway and push the door to open position, the lazy tongs exerting suiiicient :leverage against the lever 7 to cause rods 11 to thrustdownwardly on the runway and produce the necessary relative movementzot the runway and door.

The door operating mechanism can all be exposed upon the inner surface of the Wall of the enclosure where the parts can be easily reached for greasing or repairing them butit will be understood of course that if desired these working parts can be housed within the wall. \Vhere two doors are provided the mechanism already described is duplicated at :the other side of the door opening, one runway, however, servinglto operate both mechanisms. This modification is so obvious that it is not deemed necessary to show the same in the drawings.

lVhat is claimed is:

1. Thecombination with astructure having a door opening and a door slidably mounted to close ithe opening, of a runway extending through the lower portion of the door 'opening'and under-the :path'of the door, a lever fulcrumed to said structure and :extending 'to one side sthereo'f, said lever :having an offset upper 'end :portion :pivntally connected to the structure, a lazy-tongs .piv-

otally connected to the door andzto the structure, there .being arms :constitutingone end ofthe lazy tongs, a slidablefa-ndpi-votalcon- .nection between the lever and one of ithe arms, yielding means forshifting the arms toward each other, and: a working connection between the runway andtthe upper end :portion of the lever.

'2. The combination with a structure having a door opening and a yieldingly supported runway extending through @the lower portion of the opening, .ofa door mounted 'to slide, a lazy :tongs pivotally connected CHARLES J. CARLISLE. 

